Is it worth repairing a water damaged X201s?

[atanasoff]

I have an X201s which I'm managed to kill. I absent-mindedly placed a cold pack at freezer temp on it the bottom while it was resting on its lid. That (obviously) created a fair amount of condensation, which went through the various vent holes and into wherever. Yes, that was a senior moment.

After letting it dry out, the green power light goes on, the base near the CPU gets warm, but no power on sequence. Removed the battery, disconnected line, held pwr for 20 seconds, tried that again, no change. So one or more parts are toast.

The machine was otherwise working well, I'd just replaced the keyboard (big improvement, it became a pleasure to type on) and it has an SSD. It has an LED screen, I believe that is standard on this model. It's also a very handy size. Notebooks are cheap now, and I image the replacement value of this, even with the SSD figured in is not much. There is some un-backed up data on the HD (that was another to-do-item) and work in progress in browser sessions but nothing vital. I suspect the HD didn't get wet, that area is opposite to where the water got in.

I have limited capability to do repairs: I have a flat work surface and appropriate screwdrivers, but soldering and fine electrical work are not realistic.

Fix or toss?

[GrifterGuru]

Have you pulled the SSD and hooked it up via a lead to another laptop? That is, at least one way to retrieve data.
(SATA->USB and/or SATA->eSATA leads are availale on ebay relatively low priced)

Another option, depending if you run Win7, is to load the SSD into a different system and boot it up to recover your work (Unless it is an mSata type)..

I run win7 myself and without joking, I havea win 7 SSD which has been booted on no less than 8 various machines (laptops, towers, nini systems) without issue. It is my "Go To" drive if I want to back-up/clone/repair the system HDD/SSD.

As to the X201s? That is entirely your own choice, but sentimental value may come in to it, I do not know. Stack the replacement costs aainst potential repair costs and your own abilities/abilities of people who owe you favours and could do the work for you if you are unable to.

In the meantime, dismantling, cleaning, drying and removing any potential water trace may help, but again, I am not sure.

[atanasoff]

Now it’s been a while since I’ve done even minimal fooling with hardware, So I have to ask some pretty basic questions.
What type of SATA to USB device/adapter/cable do I need?
About how much is the machine minus the SSD worth? “Not much” is my guess, but I don’t actually know. No sentimental value.

[GrifterGuru]

Sata to usb / USB to sata (dependin which way you want to say it....)

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... d&_sacat=0

Sata to eSata leads

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... itleDesc=0

As to machine value? I have no idea I am afraid, though I am sure other members will know.

[wujstefan]

The screen and keyboard are pretty likely to hit some reasonable prices. X201s had only WXGA+ LED option available. You actually could get a X201 or X200 chassis and remount the LCD; this will be very cheap repair that leaves you most of the parts as spares. I have no idea where you are from, but mobo inside the chassis sits around $35 (i5-520m or P8600 units anyway).

[atanasoff]

The screen and keyboard are pretty likely to hit some reasonable prices. X201s had only WXGA+ LED option available. You actually could get a X201 or X200 chassis and remount the LCD; this will be very cheap repair that leaves you most of the parts as spares. I have no idea where you are from, but mobo inside the chassis sits around $35 (i5-520m or P8600 units anyway).

That's an interesting option, and $35 is a reasonable amount to gamble on repairing it. Is that the only part I need, or might something else have died, such as whatever circuit charges the battery?
HMM says it has a "P8600 2.4Ghz" cpu, in one of four slightly different variants. What is "TPM" ?

[ajkula66]

That's an interesting option, and $35 is a reasonable amount to gamble on repairing it. Is that the only part I need, or might something else have died, such as whatever circuit charges the battery?
HMM says it has a "P8600 2.4Ghz" cpu, in one of four slightly different variants. What is "TPM" ?

Whatever died will be resurrected by the replacement motherboard. A new keyboard is also in order, but all of that combined is still far less than a replacement system would run you.

[atanasoff]

Thanks for all the responses. Looks like I’m going to repair this thing I do enjoy not wasting things or burning cash